release date: 1983
format: vinyl (V2260) / digital
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: Hunters & Collectors; Mike Howlett (A1-A4)
label: Virgin Records - nationality: Australia
Track highlights: A) 1. "Towtruck" - 2. "Droptank" - 3. "Mouthtrap" - - B) 1. "Talking to a Stranger" (Remix) (other version) - 2. "Scream Who" - 3. "Run Run Run"
International album debut by Melbourne-founded Australian post-punk band Hunters & Collectors. Basically, the album is the band's international debut but it may also be regarded as a compilation as it combines the band's second ep Payload (1982) and the homonymous double vinyl ep debut from 1982, which had both been released exclusively for the Australian and New Zealand markets. The A-side contains all four tracks from Payload, and the B-side contains three tracks taken from album debut (tracks A1, B1 and D). At this early stage, the band line-up was already rather extensive, sometimes counting ten members. Here, they list seven: Mark Seymour on lead vocals & guitar, Ray Tosti-Guerra on guitar & vocals, John Archer on bass, Geoff Crosby on keyboards, Doug Falconer on drums, Greg Perano on percussion, and Robert Miles credited live sound & as art director. Later on, they were mostly eight official members and on their ninth and final studio album, Juggernaut (1998), the band counted nine members.
This is my first acquaintance with this fine Australian band, an album I purchased in '83 or early '84. I played this a lot back then and only later discovered that it was a compilations album - which it neither is after all.
It represents a fine mix somewhere in various directions of post-punk. There's an underlaying and ever-present darkness of gothic rock and at the same time a melodic sense of new wave and power pop, which in any case could be labelled indie rock at the time, but there's also elements from funk and something I would call garage rock, which really makes it a huge blend of styles, but it actually works like an original style of theirs, and to me, it fell nicely into a mix of Shriekback, Bauhaus, Gang of Four. and with some bonds to Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. However, the band soon changed its style to a more mainstream pop / rock style, which in a way seems influenced by bands like Rolling Stones, Genesis and Talking Heads, although, also maintaining a highly original Australian tone, and the band experienced commercial and international success with its fourth album out, Human Frailty (1986) and the album Demon Flower (1994).
